The boys are doing well. Buck weighed 16 pounds and Cash weighed 14 when we picked them up in late March and they each now weigh just a shade under 30 pounds. They are making progress on the house training front, but we wish it was a little faster. They are both smart boys and are …
Month: May 2012
Findings
Here’s another one of those enjoyable “Findings” features from Harper’s Magazine. Findings By Rafil Kroll-Zaidi In Scotland, Donald Trump was attempting to stop the wind harvest, there was disagreement over whether the rare pine marten would drive the rare capercaillie to re-extinction, an English egg thief was sentenced to his fourth prison term and banned …
Hot Links
Here’s an interesting story about two paleolithic flutes found in Germany. A DNA study of Lane Batot’s neighbors the Melungeons makes the story of their origins a little less romantic than many thought and I guess the Melungeons aren’t very happy about it. It’s turning out to be an ugly climbing season on Mt. Everest. …
Amazon Page
I have one at last, all up- to- date with the new book and all: here!
Gift
We just received a sweet gift from our old friends Mike and Kathy Gear: a signed galley copy of their novel A Searing Wind. It is the third and final novel in a series set during Hernando De Soto’s invasion of what is now the Southeast US from 1539-1542, I was able to get together with …
Buntings
Our bright spring birds have been showing up the last two or three weeks. Among them have been these lazuli buntings, that have been regular visitors here for the last three years. Late last week we noticed that some of the buntings appeared to be “too” blue. Looking a little closer we saw that they …
Jean Craighead George and Jim Marti: RIP
Old friends and heroes are dying faster than I can write about them. Jean Craighead George, author of one of my favorite childhood books*, My Side of the Mountain, and sister to the even better- known conservationists and falconers , the twin brothers Frank and John, died last week at 92. NYT here , Wiki …
We Don’t Know As Much About Dog Domestication As We Thought
I know readers here will want to take a look at this NY Times piece entitled “Deeper Digging Needed to Decode a Best Friend’s Genetic Roots.” The article comments on a recent PNAS article recounting the current state of disarray in the study of dog domestication. As the senior author, Greger Larson of the University of …
Flower, Lizard…
For us, however brown it looks to you, it has been a “wet” green spring. Didn’t see a collared lizard last year but saw TWO on the ruin in an hour. The cooperative one was basking on the Yawheh graffiti rock: Any botanizers out there who can ID this flower? It is not a common …
Ruins 2
As readers may know, we are Forest Service “Guardians” to a little pre and post- Columbian (400- 1700?) pueblo near town. Mostly we just visit and document any changes, whether caused by natural erosion or “intruders” from kangaroo and pack rats to blundering cows and teenaged Navajo partiers. Today we joined FS Archaeologist Matt Basham …